Sands of the Hourglass
by jellyybeans
Summary: GaaraxSakura:: She loves &sees ONLY Sasuke. Naruto challenges that fact. Love triangles are always hard to fix, and someone always gets hurt. But what happens the day Sakura opens her eyes and someone from outside the triangle makes his way to her heart?


I love Gaara. However, I'm not going to bore you talking about him. I'll let the actual fanfic do that. It was during one of my Naruto-Marathon days that I came across this and I don't even know if I should post it.

P.S. I don't like Sakura. I'll have to get that out now before people get the wrong idea. Nothing personal. However, her dedication and loyalty to the person she loves makes her a great target for a romance piece.

This is my first fanfic. So please let me know what you think. ;

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**CHAPTER ONE: SPRING'S EARLY GREETING**

Thunder roared in the village of Konoha as villagers who were caught outside, ran for shelter. The lights in the hospital flickered momentarily as lightning flashed in the sky. In that split second, all the rooms in the building were engulfed in darkness, one of them being room #21, where a pair of eyes shone in deeper black than the unlit hallways.

_Drip.. drip.. drip. _Water droplets seeped through the wooden planks that made up the wide, brown ceiling. The sound echoed within the small bedroom as the leak continuously met with the cold floor. _Plop. Splash. Sploosh._ The same pattern of noises ran through the mind of the red-haired boy lying on the bed. Boots still on, training pants and shirt still moist with fresh sweat, which could be traced from a japanese insignia etched into his forehead.

Gaara stared blankly at the sky with his arms folded behind his head, as he rested it upon his cotton pillow. In his right hand he held a folded piece of coloured paper. He almost forgot he was holding it and released his tight grip. Holding it up above his eyes he reread the few words that kept his mind baffled for hours now. "Gaara, I don't know if you like sweets... but I hope that you like it. Get better soon!" He checked the table to his left and sure enough, on top was a tiny basket of wrapped sweets, tied with a ribbon, and with a single daffodil inside. All of it was left untouched, since this afternoon. "..Hmph.." His eyes wandered back to the note that it came with, and stayed on the letters on the bottom of the page.

_"--Sakura"_

The lights suddenly went out again. Gaara remained still, eyes fixed on the shadowy film that extended from the silhouette of his hand. The tiniest form of a smile came and left his lips, as quickly as the lamp beside him regained its luminescence. Thus, concealing all traces of it in his favourite hiding place. The dark.

"_SAKURA-CHAAAAN!"_

Naruto yelled as he stormed down the street. A girl stopped not far ahead. Her soft pink hair flew as she turned around to answer to him, revealing a set of green eyes peeking through a spill of tears falling on her fair skin.

Naruto stopped shortly infront of her. He bit his lip hard, not knowing what to say. _"Ech... Don't listen to Sasuke. He's always like that, but he doesn't really mean it. If you want-- Sakura-chan-- since he said-- well-- 'I' could--If you want--" _Naruto stammered heavily on his words whilst he blushed and fiddled with something hidden behind him. _"Naruto.." _Sakura bowed her head. He walked closer to her in curiosity. Looking at her tensed shoulders, he wanted to hold her so badly. Comfort her. If she would just let him, or just give him a chance, he'd prove that he's better for her...

_"Just-- please leave me alone!" _

The words hit Naruto harder than it should have. But Sakura continued

_"You might think that I could easily get over Sasuke, but I can't. Can't you see? If I could, I wouldn't have made a fool of myself all this time--"_

He roughly held his arms wide open infront of him, at the same time, dropping something that left a red blur, as he attempted to persuade her.

_"But he doesn't even care about you like I do!"_

Naruto carelessly pulled Sakura towards him, locking her in a tight embrace, and allowed her to bury her head on his chest. He rested his forehead gently on her crown and whispered

_"I can help. Tell me how... I'm here."_

As Sakura looked up at him, he watched as she shut her eyes to prevent herself from crying even more. Naruto stroked her cheeks with the back of his hand, lifted her chin and leaned in. Sakura remained so still.

_He was so close.. maybe this time.. just maybe..._

In the last minute, she pulled back with wide eyes and screamed "_I'm sorry! I can't.. I just.."_ She ran down, down, down the street. Without stopping to see where she we going, she just wanted to run away from everything.

Naruto was motionless until she finally disappeared off to the distance. He then turned around as a gust of wind blew his blonde hair, exposing his emotionless feature. Naruto began to walk the other way, preoccupied, trampling a crimson rosebud on the ground.

Sakura gradually slowed down a few houses away from her own. _Sasuke never did recognize her as someone who could be more than a teammate. He would barely even consider her as a friend (at least, he doesn't act like it all). However, Naruto was always there. Saving her, taking care of her, cheering her up. It seemed so unfair to him. Maybe she could try to ... _

_"No! Naruto is important to me, he's a loyal friend. I could never pretend not to love Sasuke. Especially not infront of Naruto and I would never use him like that! It'd probably break me either way. What was I thinking!"_

Wiping her eyes dry, Sakura shook her head in an attempt to knock some sense to herself.

Her footsteps ended infront of her front door, where a guy stood, just staring up at the house. He seemed like he was waiting for something. He reached for the door with his fist, as if knocking, but held it back and placed his hand back to his side. A familiar "_Tch_!" left his lips.

_"Gaara.. You're back, did you need something?" _

The guy stiffened and slowly turned with a frown on his face, showing what was left of a bad habit. At the sight of her confused face, he couldn't help but shiver a bit. Swiftly, Gaara diverted his eyes to her far left

_"I was looking. For you, I mean." _

Sakura approached him, catching Gaara by surprise. _"Oh. My mom isn't home and my father is really quite lazy. He doesn't get up to get the door, no matter how many times you knock." _She laughed coolly _"I hope you weren't waiting too long?" _Sakura aligned her face directly infront of his. _Way too close for comfort. _He forced himself to maintain his confidence and stay focused on her bright eyes, which proved to be tougher than he thought.

_I can't get a hold of myself. What's wrong with me? Sakura has already provided me with an excuse and I still can't speak. What's wrong with me! What's going on...Speak! Speak! SPEAK!_

_"Ugh. It--wasn't bad. I just arrived. What I wanted to say was --that I just --wanted to thank you, that is... For the basket."_ Something lit up from inside Sakura and she was once again the overly enthusiastic girl that Gaara knew.

_"You're welcome! I loved making them too. I was worried you wouldn't be able to swallow them."_ She laughed.

_"The first few bites were pretty hard to keep down, but I eventually got used to it" _Gaara lifted his head to the sky as he said it so seriously. Sakura didn't know how to react. He then shifted his eyes to look back down at her and gave a small smirk. Sakura, in turn, gave him a sharp look, and set herself up to punch him.

As she stretched her arm to make contact with his left rib, Gaara's reflexes were triggered and he instantly caught her fist in his hand with a cautious look. He held her hand in place and slowly eased his grip at the same time as she did hers. When he realized what had just happened, his forehead relaxed and he left his fighting stance. As he became aware of their bare fingertips touching, Gaara heard his heart pause and then thump louder and louder. The scared look on Sakura's face made him worry.

_I definitely frightened her. Why was I so defensive? But maybe its not because of that...She couldn't have possibly heard the irregularity of that beat. What's going on with me.._ They both let go and went quiet.

_"I should go." _Gaara gruffed. _"They're probably looking for me at the hospital. Dealing with Tsunade is one thing, facing her when she's drunk and angry is another. Hehmm.."_

Sakura grinned back automatically _"You really should smile more often. It's relieving and it sure isn't too harsh on the eyes" _Gaara's turned away from her, unsure of how to take the comment. He stuffed his hands in his pockets

"You should visit and bring me some more of that cake some time" he said.

"But according to what you just said, wouldn't that finish you off sooner?" Sakura stuck out her tongue. Gaara raised a hand to say goodbye, with his back turned from her, and kept walking.

Sakura whispered, _"I really am glad you're feeling better, Gaara"_. She held her hands close to her chest and allowed her chakra to flow freely as she measured the amount pumping through her very heart. She went through all the steps Tsunade taught her, not that she was new to it, she could have done it in the blink of an eye, or often times, absent-mindedly. Sakura just wanted to make sure, she must have done something wrong this time. Her eyebrows shot up for a second as she confirmed her theory.

_Just as I thought._

_It wasn't mine. _

_But it wasn't his. _

_For a minute, I thought I lost trace of either of our beats. _

_I thought my ability was weakened for some reason. _

_Who would have known... _

_Both flows, _

_both bodies_

_were present and breathing._

_But a while ago, I could have sworn that there was only one---_

_...Sharing such a synchronized rhythm like that... _

_that even I... _

_thought that there was only one._


End file.
